Steel bottle container



Feb. 13,1951 J, R. WALLACE 2,54l,972

' STEEL BOTTLE CONTAINER Filed Jan. 27, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet l IN VENTOR. JHMES R. WHLLHCE Feb. 1 3, 1951 J. R. WALLACE STEEL BOTTLECONTAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2" Filed Jan. 27, 1948 INVENTOR. Jaws: R.WHLLHC:

Patented Feb. 13, 1951 OFFICE 2,541,972 "STEEL BOTTLEGONTA'INER James E.Wallace, Lansing, Mich, assignor to Carrier-Stephens Company, Lansing,:Miclh, a

corporation of Michigan ApplicationJanuary 27, 1948, S'er'ial 'N 0.4,543

3 Claims.

This invention relates to carboy bottle crates and-more particularly tosuch a crate constructed of metallic rods.

In the field of transporting and storing liquid materials, especiallycorrosive chemicals, it has heretofore been .found most satisfactory touse glass bottles having a capacity of five or more gallons. By reasonof their shape and breakable nature these bottles must be enclosed insome typeof crate both for'lprotection and to effect ease in handling.

In designing "such a crate several paramount characteristics have beenthe objectives 'of those acquainted with the problems in this field,among which objectives have been to provide a light weight crate,compact in size, while providing adequate protection for the fragilebottle and of such a shape that it occupies the least area int'he usualstorage spaces. In addition to these "features it must be capable ofdeveloping sufficient overall structural strength to withstand heavyloads and rough handling, which requirement is complicated by the factthat many crates are often stacked one -on top of the other imposinghigh compressive loads. Further, these crates must be designed such thatwhen stacked the resulting vertical tier is stable, since the nature ofthe chemicals often makes the failure of a crate extra hazardous tonearby personnel. My

invention provides means which not only positively align vertically"each of thecrates in such a stack but also prevents them from shiftingout of-such alignment even though the entire stack is swayed.Furthermore an economy of weight has "been accomplished "by combiningthe aligning :means with "a hook for lifting the crates. The hook hasbeen so constructed that the loads 'imposed upon the crate'by'mean's ofthis hookwhen the crate is thus lifted are distributed evenly throughoutthe entire structure, eliminating distortion 'and'ultimate failure dueto load concentrations heretofore unavoidable :in existing designs.

Previously existing bottle crate designs utilizing ro'd material for itsprimary structure have -the support is applied to a large number-ofareas -on the bottle in relatively even distribution over its surface. Ihave accomplished this by placing the vertical rods inside all of thehorizontal "mem- .2 gle supporting unit; This has strengthened thestructure by eliminating unnecessary joints and shortening the length ofthe lower support members to provide the vertical support thereforproximate tothe bottleitself, or as near as possible to the center ofload.

The placing of the rods inside the horizontal members has afurtheradvantage in that it permits the horizontal members to be'superimposedvertically, thereby providing a crate of greater structuralstrength andrigidity, yet more compact and thus more economical to store andtransport. All of these improvements have combined to produce a cratehaving a-greater operating life and having a greatly increased safetyfactor.

Therefore, a primary object of this invention is to provide a bottlecrate having a positive gripping means combined with an interlockablelug for stacking purposes.

A further object of my invention is to provide a bottle crate having abottle supporting floor which will not materially deflect under verticalloads.

is stil'l'furthe'r object of my invention is to rovide a bottle crategiving positive support to the bottle in a large number of places.

An additional object of my invention is to provide such a bottle-cratehaving means to distribute the load from the gripping lugs throughoutthe entire crate.

Still anotherobject of my invention is to provide a bottle retainingmeans which cannot become detached in service but which may be easi lyand s'wiftly'removed when so desired.

Other objects and purposes of my invention will be apparent to thoseacquainted with articles of this type upon inspection of the followingspecification with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is an oblique view of my invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevational View of my invention.

Figure 3 is aside elevational view of my invention.

Figure 415 atop view 'of'my invention.

Figure 5 is a sectional view of my invention taken along the plane V-Vof Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a sectional view of my invention taken alongthe plane V IVIof Figure 2.

Figure '7 is a detail view of the bottle retainer of my invention.

Figureh is a fragmentary side elevational view of my bottle retainershowing the fastening means.

In providing a stru'cture for executing the objects and purposes of myinvention, I have designed a bottle crate having top, bottom andintermediate exterior frame members circumscribing a circular bottlenesting frame, the vertical members of which are placed insidering-shaped members in direct contact with the bottle and a number ofwhich are bent to form a floor for the bottle nesting frame.

In the following description the words upper and lower are freely usedand are to be taken to means in relation to the bottle crate as seen inFigure 2. The words interior and exterior are also freely used and areto be taken to mean interiorly towards the geometric center of the crateand exteriorly away therefrom.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the numeral l indicates anexterior housing having a top frame 2, an intermediate frame 3, and abottom frame 4. An interior housing 5 consisting of an upper ring-shapedmember 6, a lower ringshaped member I and straight vertical members 8 isseated within the exterior housing I in such a manner that a portion ofthe interior surfaces of the ring-shaped members 6 and l are verticallyaligned with a portion of the interior surfaces of the frame members 2,3 and 4. The straight vertical members 8 are located only at the pointswhere the inside surfaces of the ringshaped members and the framemembers are in exact vertical alignment. The intermediate frame 3,bottom frame 4 and the lower ringshaped member 1 are each formed into arigid unit by butt welding 22 or other suitable joining means. A portionof one side of the upper frame 2 is removed and the ends 23 of the upperringshaped member 6 are not joined for reasons which will appear morefully hereafter.

The top frame 2, intermediate frame 3, and the bottom frame 4 are eachformed in the shape of a square with rounded corners. A vertical support9a is welded to the inner surface of the bottom frame 4 at one cornerthereof and extends upwardly at an inclined angle until it contacts theinner surface of the top frame 2 at a point spaced away from the corner,at which point it is formed into a loop lfla projecting upwardly fromthe top frame 2 several inches. The loop Illa is so formed that itextends across the inside of the frame corner at an angle ofsubstantially 45 degrees to the sides of the frame and the ends a of theloops are welded to the frame at their point of contact.

The vertical support 9a is welded to the intermediate frame 3 and thetop frame 2 at their respective points of contact. Similar verticalsupports 91:, 9c and 9d and similar loops Hlb, I and Hid withcorresponding ends Hb, He and lid are provided at each of the other fourcorners of the exterior housing I.

The straight vertical members 8 of the interior housing 5 are welded tothe interior surfaces of the frame members 2, 3 and i and to theinterior surfaces of the ring-shaped members 6 and i and are spacedapart approximately one sixth of the width of a side of one of the framemembers.

Between the vertical members 8 and the corners of the top frame 2, fourtie elements !2 are provided welded to the interior surfaces of the topframe 2 and extending inwardly and downwardly to pass within thering-shaped members 6 and l to which they are welded. At their lowerends, which are points above the lower surface of the bottom frame 4,the tie elements 12 are each bent through approximately a degree are toform floor members 13 for the interior housing 5. After forming thefloor members E3, the tie elements I2 are bent to extend upwardly againto the top frame 2 and are again welded to the interior surfaces of thering-shaped members 6 and 1 and the top frame 2. Each tie element l2,thus, is shaped into a flat bottomed U having the upper portion of itssides flared outwardly and with the bottom of the U formed by the floormembers 13.

Two of the floor members l3 are provided with joggled portions I4 topermit the passage of the other two floor members at their intersectionpoint l5 while maintaining a level upper surface (Figure 3). The floormembers are welded together at each of the intersections IS.

The bottle retainer l6 consists of a rod bent to form a square, and buttwelded at I! or otherwise suitably joined into a rigid unit (Figures 3,'7 and 8). A catch I8 is pivotally fastened to each of the oppositecorners of the retainer. Each of the catches I8 is fastened to theretainer l6 by a loop [9 formed around the retainer and pressed againstthe body of the catch sufiiciently to prevent detachment (Figure 8) Theend of the loop 19 may be spot welded or riveted if desired.

One side of the crate is provided with an opening 2| (Figs. 1 and 2)created by eliminating the portion of the topframe 2 betweenthe tieelements !2 and the vertical members 8 above the upper retaining ring 6.The purpose of this opening will appear more fully hereafter.

The various portions and members of the crate are preferably constructedfrom steel rod material because of its strength, durability andexcellent welding characteristics. Other materials, however, may be usedwhere the circumstances dictate that such should be done. The variousparts of the crate may be protected by a suitable coating such asparkerizing or spraying with enamel.

Operation The bottle 24 is inserted in the crate by seating it withinthe central opening or basket provided by the interior housing 5 (Fig.1). This interior housing is so formed that the bottle fits snuglywithin the space and is held against lateral movement by the verticalmembers 8 and the tie elements l2 which contact the sides of the bottle.The floor members It support the bottle vertically. When the bottle hasthus been seated the retainer 16 is placed around the tapering portionof the bottle 24 with one of the catches l8 attached to the upperring-shaped member 6 by engagement, of the hook 20. The ring-shapedmember 6 is then sprung together to permit the hook 25 on the othercatch l8 to be slipped over it and upon release the ring-shaped memberreturns to its normal position thereby tightly engaging the hook 25. Thegap between the ends 23 of the ring-shaped member 6 is providedfor theexpress purpose of permitting the ringshaped member to be sprungtogether to facilitate engagement of the hooks 25. A simple and easymethod of locking the bottle into place is thus provided which is at thesame time a positive engagement against becoming unlocked, If the bottletends to slide toward what is normally the top of the crate theresulting pull on the retainer will cause the hooks to more firmlyengage the ring-shaped member 6 thereby assuring a constant lock.

By making the floor members I3 and the tie members 12 from a singlepiece of material by a bending operation, a floor is provided for thebottle which is supported directly at the sides of the bottle,eliminating the bending created by extending these floor membersoutwardly to the lower frame. The tendency of the floor members todefleet and ultimately fail due to these bending loads is therebyeliminated.

lhe loops ID serve the dual purpose of aligning the crates when they arestacked and providing an easy means for grasping the crate when it is tobe moved. As a means for lifting the crates they serve either as easilyaccessible handles or a place to attach a crane hook or similar device.Their size makes the operation simple and assures a complete engagement.

As aligning means in stacking, the loops ID on the lower crate extend upinto the corners of the bottom frame of the crate above. Since the topand bottom frame members have the same inside dimensions these loopswill slidingly engage the interior surfaces of the bottom frame of theupper crate and assure the resting of the bottom frame of the uppercrate squarely on the top frame of the lower crate and thereafterprevent relative lateral displacement between the crates. Their heightis sufficient to prevent such lateral movement even though the stack isfor some reason deviated from the vertical. The vertical supports 9absorb the load imposed through the loops IE} and distribute itthroughout the entire crate by passing it into the frame members 2, 3and 4. Being almost vertical they serve as primary structural elementsunder both tension and compression loads.

The opening 2! in the side of the exterior housing l aids in permittingthe ring-shaped member 6 to have built-in resiliency but moreimportantly it provides an opening through which the contents of thebottle may be poured when the crate is laid on its side. Thus the bottlemay be emptied without removal from the crate and without danger ofspilling any of the contents on the framework of the crate.

Various modifications of this described construction will be immediatelyapparent to persons acquainted with equipment of this type and accordinly the hereinafter appended claims should be interpreted to cover suchmodifications and variations excepting as said claims by their own termsexpressly require otherwise.

I claim:

1. A protective crate for a bottle comprising: a plurality ofsubstantially square, horizontally disposed frame members one of whichforms the top of said crate and one of which forms the bottom of saidcrate, a plurality of horizontally disposed ring-shaped membersvertically spaced between said frame members and having a portion oftheir inside surfaces in the same vertical plane as a portion of theinside surfaces of said frame members the upper of said ring-shapedmembers being broken and having its ends spaced apart a short distance,a plurality of straight vertical rods attached to the inside surface ofsaid frame members and said ring-shaped members, a

plurality of rods each constituting as a unit a pair of vertical staysand a floor member, attached to the inside surface of said top framemember and ring-shaped members and as a group forming a closely fittingbottle supporting basket, a substantially vertical support attached tothe inside surface of each of said frame members at their corners andprojecting above said top frame member to form a loop thereabove, theend of said loop attached to said top frame member, a bottle retaineradapted for seating over a portion of said bottle and having a pair ofcatches detachably engaging said upper ring-shaped member and heldagainst disengagement by resiliency Within said upper ring-shapedmember.

2. A protective crate for a bottle comprising: a plurality ofsubstantially square, horizontally disposed frame members, one of whichforms the top of said crate and one of which forms the bottom of saidcrate, a plurality of horizontally disposed ring-shaped membersvertically spaced between said frame members and having a portion oftheir inside surfaces in the same vertical plane asthe inside surfacesof portions of said frame members, a plurality of vertical membersattached to the inside surface of said frame members and saidring-shaped members, a plurality of rods each formed substantially intoa U contacting said bottle throughout substantially the entire insidesurface of said U and having a fiat bottom and together with thevertical members defining a bottle supporting basket, the bottomelements of said rods intersecting and half of said rods having theirintersecting portions offset downwardly, a substantiall vertical supportattached to the inside surfaces of each of said frame members proximateto their corners and projecting above said top frame member to form aloop thereabove, the end of said loop attached to said top frame member,a bottle retainer detachably engaging said crate.

3. A protective crate for a bottle comprising: a wire top frame memberand a wire bottom frame member each horizontally disposed and verticallyspaced, wire vertical members extending between and attached to bothsaid top frame member and said bottom frame member, a cupshaped wirebasket including U-shaped wire members intersecting at the bottom of thebasket to form the floor thereof, the top of said basket attached to anddepending from said top frame.

member, a plurality of horizontal, wire, ringshaped members attached toand circumscribing both said vertical members and said U-shaped membersof said basket.

JAMES R. WALLACE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

